The subject matter herein relates generally to lighting devices and, more particularly, to assemblies that house and supply electric current to lighting devices.
Known lighting assemblies including lighting devices that emit light out of the assemblies in desired directions. Some lighting assemblies include light emitting diodes (LEDs) that emit light from a light emitting surface of the assemblies. The assemblies typically include several interconnected components or parts that are used to house the LED and other components used to operate the LED. For example, the LED may be mounted on a circuit board in a housing of the lighting assembly. The housing may be formed of one or more parts, such as heat sinks, optical lenses, additional circuit boards, and the like. Moreover, one or more additional electronic components used to operate the LED may be mounted on the circuit board or on an additional circuit board located in the housing. For example, an LED driver may be mounted to the same circuit board as the LED or to an additional circuit board. The electronic components receive electric current from an external source and use the current to drive, or activate, the LED and cause the LED to emit light from the lighting assembly. The various components in some known lighting assemblies may be secured together using adhesives, latching devices, and the like.
The LED and electronic components located within the housing may be electronically joined with one another by one or more internal contacts located in the housing. Additionally, the LED and electronic components may be coupled with the external source by one or more external contacts that extend from inside to outside of the housing. The external contacts may be coupled with the external source of electric current to supply the current to the LED and electronic components. In some known lighting assemblies, these contacts, circuit boards, components and LEDs are soldered together during assembly of the lighting assemblies.
In general, as the number of interconnected components and electrical components in the lighting assemblies increases, the complexity and cost of manufacturing the lighting assemblies also increases. For example, some known lighting assemblies include interconnected housing components such as heat sinks, contact housings, optical lenses, and the like, that are secured together by adhesives, such as thermal adhesives. The application of the adhesives increases the cost and time involved in manufacturing the lighting assemblies. Additionally, the manufacturing process of some known lighting assemblies uses several soldering steps to electrically couple the several electronic components. As the number of soldering steps and solder connections between components increases, the cost and complexity involved in manufacturing the lighting assemblies also may increase.
A need exists for lighting assemblies that include fewer components and/or manufacturing steps. Eliminating components and/or manufacturing steps may reduce the complexity and/or cost involved in manufacturing the lighting assemblies.